anamnesis

and here's what happened next... Creativity. We got that going for us.

GLENN GREENWALD: ... Let’s just quickly describe in the most dispassionate terms, as few of euphemisms, as possible, where we are and what has happened over the last eight years. We have a law in place that says it is a felony offense punishable by five years in prison or a $10,000 fine to eavesdrop on American citizens without warrants. We have laws in place that say that it is a felony punishable by decades in prison to subject detainees in our custody to treatment that violates the Geneva Conventions or that is inhumane or coercive. We know that the president and his top aides have violated these laws. The facts are indisputable that they’ve done so. And yet as a country, as a political class, we’re deciding basically in unison that the president and our highest political officials are free to break the most serious laws that we have, that our citizens have enacted, with complete impunity, without consequences, without being held accountable under the law. And when you juxtapose t...

Watched "Wanted" again last night. I like it. I bought it. At the end of the movie the protagonist (using the term loosely) turns to the camera and says... " what the *bleep* have YOU done lately?!" So far (twice now) this phrase predictably fired off three little jolts in my head, like three firecrackers chained together and some big Stoogie lit the short fuse of the first one with that statement. The noise attracts two tribes on horseback that meet at the corpus callosum. The scary guys in their war paint, disciplined, intent on their purpose, oblivious to "comfort zones" who carry one creed: act. And the mongol-gypsies who show up to see what the noise was about, whose creed is it is more important to be than to do and distrust anything smacking of rigidity. The warriors, never quite satisfied, who can't figure out how to consistently achieve their agendas and the mongols, who want to be satisfied, just with who they are, but fall back into the habi...

While snarfing some nachos I flipped on the TV and accidentally landed in the low channel ranges. That scary neighborhood with american idol reruns and big blocks of no man's land labeled "local listings" where all your town's used car salesmen hang out with their unbeatable deals and volume amped vanity commercials. And, of course, the local news, which I caught 5 minutes of. Probably the 2nd time in 6 months. But in those 5 minutes I discovered that Boulder, CO is rated as America's smartest city by Forbes magazine ---which was more national news--- but the local kickers soon followed. An interview with a resident on the Pearl street mall kind of deflated the news-PR-enthusiasm: Newscaster: "What do you think about Boulder being called the smartest city in America?!!" Resident: "Depends on who is saying that. And why. And how can you call a city smart?" The newscast went on to sports, reporting a disappointing loss of Colorado to Nebraska in...

So this is a story about hidden treasure (see the post before this one.) Not. But sometimes I am curious about what runs through people's heads during the day. I usually enjoy it when they give me a glimpse, like gerbeans. And while gerbean's head is probably the most alien terrain within light-years of planet earth, I don't have much luck with others' headspaces either. Maybe my sample population is skewed. Here is a snapshot from my own stream, for entertainment purposes only. These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. Ask your doctor if you should be reading what follows. Few days past we had a one of those warm dinners out with old friends, joined by another friend, a Japanese monk who has been living out in LA trying to get a temple in order there. He asked about Sonic and Mew and we talked about them for a while, over indian curries, okra, creamed spinach and endless refills of chai. They all had known the munchkins since they were wee. The monk lives a ...

I enjoyed reading gerbean's post with my morning(?) coffee. It inspired me to try something similar, sort of a slice of what's bouncing around in my head. Might post that later today. But it also reminded me of one of Jack Handley's "Deep Thoughts" on SNL: Once when I was in Hawaii, on the island of Kauai, I met a mysterious old stranger. He said he was about to die and wanted to tell someone about the treasure. I said, "Okay, as long as it's not a long story. Some of us have a plane to catch, you know." He started telling his story, about the treasure and his life and all, and I thought: "This story isn't too long." But then, he kept going, and I started thinking, "Uh-oh, this story is getting long." But then the story was over, and I said to myself: "You know, that story wasn't too long after all." I forget what the story was about, but there was a good movie on the plane. It was a little lon...